Whitman Wants To Keep HP Drama Out Of The Headlines
HP Discover: Meg Whitman says HP must work together and focus on its core business
New HP CEO Meg Whitman has vowed to “Get HP drama out of the headlines” and put HP products back into them.
Whitman made the comments during her keynote speech at HP Discover in Vienna, just nine weeks after she was appointed.
Expanding the core
Whitman admitted that the events of the previous year may have confused some people about what HP does as a company and sought to clarify its position. “HP is the world’s largest provider of information technology infrastructure, software, services and solutions to individuals and organisations of all sizes,” she said.
The new CEO was confident in HP’s “terrific portfolio” of products and claimed that the company would prosper if this portfolio worked together. Whitman said that as the world’s largest provider of IT infrastructure, this was the core of its business, with software and services working to expand this core to offer business and consumer solutions.
Converged infrastructure, application transformation, enterprise security, information optimisation and hybrid delivery were all offered as examples of solutions that HP is offering businesses.
Whitman was adamant that customers shouldn’t have to worry about HP’s structure and that its focus must be on creating good quality products and services. She also believes that these products should “delight and inspire” and pledged to increase investment in research and development in 2012 and 2013.
Whitman was appointed as chief executive following the departure of former CEO Leo Apotheker, who oversaw a number of strategic decisions such as a move towards software, the sale of WebOS and the acquisition of Autonomy, whose technology plays a key role in HP’s information optimisation solutions.
However since Apotheker left the company, HP has reported better than expected fourth quarter earnings and has suggested that it may keep its PC division rather than sell it.
